Happiness the jesus way

HAPPINESS THE JESUS WAY
By Pastor Glenn Pease
CONTENTS
1. WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Based on Matt. 5:1-12 and Phil. 4:10-13
2. PROSPERITY IN POVERTY Based on Matt. 5:3
3. HAPPINESS IN SORROW Based on Matt. 5:4
4. THE MIGHTY MEEK Based on Matt. 5:5
5. HAPPINESS THROUGH HUNGER Based on Matt. 5:6
6. HAPPY ARE THE MERCIFUL Based on Matt. 5:7
7. THE HEART OF HAPPINESS Based on Matt. 5:8
8. FIGHTERS FOR PEACE Based on Matt. 5:9
9. THE BURDEN OF THE CROSS Based on Matt. 5:10-12
10. HAPPY NEW YEAR Based on Matt. 5:1-12
1. WHAT IS HAPPINESS? Based on Matt. 5:1-12 and
Phil. 4:10-13
Epictetus, the ancient philosopher said, "If a man is unhappy, this
must be his own fault, for God made all men to be happy." A
Christian writer, St. Bernard, said something similar. "Nothing can
work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry about
with me, and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault." These
two men represent the internal philosophy of happiness. External
mean nothing, and need have no effect upon the happiness of a
person, is their view.
External evil is recognized as a reality, but one does not need to
let it penetrate his inner being. Epictetus, for example, said, "I must
die, but must I die sorrowing? I must be put in chains. Must I then
also lament? I must go into exile. Can I be prevented from going

with cheerfulness and contentment? But I will put you in prison.
Man, what are you saying? You may put my body in prison, but my
mind not even Zeus himself can overpower." Here is a rare example
of how even a pagan slave can, by the power of positive thinking,
demonstrate the human capacity for internal happiness without the
externals usually associated with happiness.
The facts of life and history show that this is possible, but it is also
highly improbable that more than a few rare individuals can
completely ignore the externals of life. The vast majority of people
depend upon externals almost exclusively. They grasp at things as the
only source of satisfaction. People really believe that more money
can bring happiness in spite of the fact that the suicide rate is higher
among the haves than among the have nots. Abdalrahman the Khalif
had thousands of wives, and millions upon millions of wealth, but this
is what he wrote near the end of his life: "I have now reigned above
50 years in victory or peace. I have been beloved of my subjects,
dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and
honor, power and pleasure have waited on my call, nor does any
earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this
situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine
happiness which have fallen to my lot: They amount to fourteen."
No amount of externals can guarantee happiness, yet man's
natural tendency is to search for happiness in that direction. Men
have a hard time believing that there is any hope of happiness apart
from externals. Aristotle represented the Greek view when he said
that the blessed life was impossible to the diseased, the poor, and the
slave. Samuel Johnson had a close friend who said that his
sister-in-law was really a happy woman. This made Johnson mad,
and he replied like the brute he could be, "If your sister-in-law is
really the contented being she professes herself, sir, her life gives the
lie to every research to humanity; for she is happy, without health,
without beauty, without money, and without understanding." He

went away growling, "I tell you the woman is ugly, and sickly, and
foolish and poor, and would it not make a man hang himself to hear
such a creature say she was happy?" The very idea of being happy
without the values so treasured by his materialistic heart made him
angry. It does not seem fair to the secularist who has struggled for all
the externals of wealth, power, and fame to see people who are happy
who have not made the struggle.
Paul would have made him angry by his words in Phil. 4:11-12.
Paul said, "...For I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is
to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and
every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty
or in want." Paul's happiness was not dependent upon what
happened, or what he had. This means that Paul's happiness was
internal. Paul did not have control over the externals of his life, but
like everybody else does, he had control over how he would react to
life internally.
If it is only going to be a happy new year for us if we get more
stuff, and all goes well, then we are living on a different level than
Paul was on. This does not mean we should not get more stuff, and
that we should not strive to make all go well. Paul advised Christians
to live peaceably with all men, and to prevent all the negatives of life
that they can. But if this is your only level of happiness you are too
controlled by the externals, and changes can quickly rob you of your
joy in Christ. We need to see the externals as fringe benefits, and not
the base salary of the Christian life. The foundation is to be internal
and attitudinal rather than external and material. Jesus and Paul
agree here completely. Happiness does not depend on what happens,
but on how you face all that happens. Jesus is saying in the beatitudes
that you can be happy even if you are experiencing many negative
externals.

At this point we need to take a detour off the main road to deal
with the problem that Christians have with reconciling being happy
and miserable at the same time. One of the major problems the
Christian has in the pursuit of happiness is the sense of failure that
comes due to times of depression and other unhappy feelings. Many
feel guilty for not being happy in the Lord. Their unhappiness is
magnified by their guilt. They say, "I know I should be happy, but I
just can't seem to feel the joy of the Lord." The first thing we need to
do is clarify the Christians right to be miserable on a variety of levels.
Jesus wept because of people's rejection of God's grace. This makes
it clear that the Christian has every right to be unhappy over lost
people. If a Christian feels guilty about being sad over this lost world,
he is feeling guilty for being Christlike, for Jesus wept over this same
thing.
Jesus also wept over the sorrow of death and the lose of a loved
one. He was very unhappy also with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees,
and the injustice of man to man. He felt rotten about the way the
temple was being used to rip off the poor, and how widows were being
taken advantage of, and their houses being taken from them. Add up
all the unhappy feelings of Jesus over the fallen nature of man, and
you have a host of legitimate reasons to be unhappy as a Christian. In
fact, it is unchristian if you are never sad and unhappy about a fallen
and lost world.
There are legitimate reasons to be unhappy, and it is folly to feel
guilty for them. We could list all of Paul's negative emotions as well,
but it is not necessary, for if our Lord had good reason to be unhappy
with much of life, who can be so presumptuous to expect to live on a
higher emotional level then Him? Anyone who expects to be feeling
happy all the time is trying to live in a world that does not yet exist.
The only way to get there in the present is by insanity and the loss of
touch with reality. Some unhappiness is just part of the price we pay
for living in a fallen world. We have to get it out of our head that

Christian happiness means freedom from all care. It that is the case,
the average cow is happier than the average Christian. It was
because Paul cared so much for the churches that he went through so
many negative emotions of frustration and anxiety.
What we are dealing with here is a paradox. It is the reality of
being able to be miserable and happy at the same time. Paul was
often miserable over the problems in the church, and yet he had an
inner sense of well being that made him happy. This means that
Christian happiness is not always and emotion. One might be
dominated by the weeping with those who weep, and so they would
feel sad at that point. This does not rob them of contentment. Paul
did not have the same emotion when he was feasting with his friends
as he had when he was in the dungeon starving and alone. Paul is not
saying that one is just the same as the other. He would have to be a
pet rock to be in such a state.
Paul had all kinds of emotions, just as Jesus did, but his point is
that he had an attitude of contentment within regardless of his
emotions. When he said that Demas had forsaken him he was feeling
bad about it. He was not indifferent to circumstances and saying its
all fine with him regardless of what was happening.
But even when he felt bad about circumstances, he still had his
contentment in Christ which circumstances could not change. This
calls for great discipline to be truly happy on this level. We get a
glimpse into the depth of what it means to be Christlike by looking at
this inner contentment of Paul. Look at the reasons for why we are so
often discontented in life.
1. Selfishness. We want things to be our way and good for us. When
they are not we are discontent. We will all have some unhappiness
because we always want to get our own way.
2. Envy. This makes us discontent because we see the possessions and
gifts of others almost as if they were stolen from us, and we resent it,

and so feel unhappy.
3. Covetousness. We have a strong desire for more than we now
have, and this robs us of the enjoyment of what we do have. No
matter how much we get it is never enough, for there is so much more
to covet. There is always an emptiness that can never be fully filled
because we covet more.
Paul was happy because he did not have to wrestle with these vices.
He had conquered them, and so he was content with his life. A happy
life does depend on our conquering all the temptations of life that fill
us with discontent. This means that it is hard work to be happy, for
you have to die to self and all that the world appeals to in us.
It is important for us to be aware that almost everything that
people do is because they believe it will lead to happiness. The
Prodigal Son did not take his money and go off to live in the pleasure
of sin with any other motive than the desire to be happy. Men just do
not pursue evil for evil's sake. Few if any could care less about
pleasing Satan. All they want is happiness for themselves. Men chose
the path that leads to misery only because they are convinced it leads
to happiness. Sin would have nothing to offer man if it did not hold
out the deceptive offer of happiness.
Satan competes for the souls of men by offering and imitation of
everything God offers for man's true happiness. From the start this
was the case. The first temptation was an offer of greater happiness
by eating the forbidden fruit. Satan is constantly trying to under sell
God, and he offers to men what he claims is greater happiness at less
cost. What the sinner fails to think of is that it is God who does the
ultimate billing, and the cost of Satan's happiness is eternal
unhappiness. No one who really knew the whole story could purchase
temporary happiness at such a cost, but Satan is the master deceiver.
It is the purpose of the Christian to distinguish between the false
happiness of Satan, and the true happiness of God, and then

demonstrate its superiority in life to enlighten men. This is part of
what being the light of the world means.
A college girl told me that non-Christian kids on campus think
that the Christians are dull and boring. A cab driver said he didn't
like church conventions coming to town because Christians come with
the Ten Commandments and a ten dollar bill, and they don't break
either of them. His concept of happiness was the pleasure of sin and
the spending of money. The Christian cannot please men on that
level, but Christians ought to make it clear that it is a joy to be a
Christian. The world should be impressed with Christian happiness.
When the non-Christian says we are all seeking the same thing, we
should agree, but be able to show him that the happiness the
Christian finds in Christ is of a much better quality.
The problem in doing this is simply that Christians have not given
enough thought to what happiness really is, and so they are on the
same level with the world in their search for it in many different
directions. Man is a complex being, and every desire, and every
different kind of disposition leads to a different theory of happiness.
The ancient writer Cicero said that in his day there were 20 rival
opinions concerning the source of true happiness. Varro was able to
enumerate 280 such opinions. There are probably more opinions on
the way to happiness than on any other subject, and the problem is
that there is some truth to every one of them. Happiness has a
thousand faces to match the diversity of personalities, gifts, and
natures. The poetess Priscilla Leonard wrote,
Happiness is like a crystal, Fair and exquisite and clear,
Broken in a million pieces, Shattered, scattered far and near,
Now and then along life's pathway, Lo! Some shining fragments
fall; But there are so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.
You may find a bit of beauty, Or an honest share of wealth,

While another just beside you, Gathers honor, love or health.
Vain to choose or grasp unduly, Broken is the perfect ball;
And there are so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.
Yet the wise as on they journey Treasure every fragment clear,
Fit them as they may together, Imaging the shattered sphere.
Learning ever to be thankful, Though their share of it is small;
For it has so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.
There is no doubt that she has in this poem expounded a basic
truth which the Scriptures support. Being a Christian, and receiving
God's best, which is salvation through Jesus Christ does not supply
one with every kind of happiness. The Bible makes it clear that there
are different gifts, and different degrees of talent among Christians.
There is probably no Christian who has ever had everything that can
be had to increase their usefulness and happiness. If we could be
happier with a gain of anything either internal or external, we are not
yet in possession of perfect happiness. Complete happiness is
impossible, therefore, in this life. That is what heaven is all about.
Even Jesus knew sorrow, pain, and grief in His human life, and,
therefore, the Christian goal for this life is never absolute happiness
at any price.
The Christian must recognize the limits of the happiness that can
rightly be theirs in God's will. Sometimes God's will requires us to be
unhappy, and this then brings us back to where we begin, and that is
that Christian happiness is basically internal, and it is in the
character of the Christian. Someone said, "Happiness is not a station
you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." The blessedness Jesus
speaks of in the beatitudes is an internal attitude which completely
contradicts the expected response to the external facts. The direction
of Christian happiness is within rather than external, but because
many pagans have also found this to be the best source of happiness,
the Christian view cannot be that only. Therefore, Pascal says,

"Happiness is neither without nor within us, it is in God, both without
us and within us."
This sounds like a circular argument that says it is neither, and
also both. It does say this, but so as to lift the subject of happiness out
of the realm where man is the center to where God is the center. This
is where the Christian view of happiness becomes distinct. In the
pagan view even their gods are means to human happiness. In the
Christian view happiness for man is not an end in itself, but is a
means to the glory of God. In Christian theology man's chief end is to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Glorifying and enjoying God is
the highest happiness man can attain. Man's happiness, therefore, is
only uniquely Christian and Christlike when God receives the glory.
There is never any doubt when you examine the life of Christ as to
who is the center of His life. In His prayer He taught us to say, "Our
Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done." God was the center of His life, the source of His
power, and the end of all His acts. We very subtly are lead into a
sub-Christian view of life when we make God a means to fulfilling our
own ends. The very study of, and longing for, happiness can lead us in
this direction, and, therefore, we must ever keep in mind that the
essence of Christian happiness is in making God and His glory the
end of all we are and all we do.
Ernest M. Ligon in The Psychology of Christian Personality says
that many studies have led to the conclusion that integration of
personality is a basic key to good health in all its aspects, and thus, to
the happy life. What is integration? He writes, "Briefly, integration is
the condition of a personality in which all of te emotional attitudes are
harmonious and mutually helpful, thus permitting all of one's natural
energy to be directed toward one end." This is Paul's, "This one thing
I do." It is the life with one supreme aim and center. Ligon says, "If
an individual can organize his emotional attitudes in such harmony

with one another, that he can direct all of his urges and appetites
about one central purpose, which is always the focus of his interest
and of his attention, we find the peak of efficiency, and the perfect
integration." When God is that central purpose we have arrived at
the highest happiness life can offer on this earth.
I read of a big cat who saw a little cat chasing his tail and he asked
why? "Because I am seeking happiness, and when I catch my tail I
will be happy." The big cat said, "I too have studied happiness and
found it to be in my tail. But I have observed that when I chase it it
keeps running away, but when I go about my business, it just seems to
come after me wherever I go." The point being, the chasing after
happiness can be futile, but just being faithful to your daily duties can
be fruitful in fulfilling your need for happiness. It is not all out there
somewhere, but it is internal, and comes with the satisfaction of a
meaningful life. Paul was not out chasing happiness. Paul was doing
the best he could to fulfill the calling of God, and the result was
contentment in any state. He did not always feel delighted, or happy
in the sense that he never wept, felt angry or frustrated, or even
depressed. But he was happy that he was in the right place doing
what God wanted him to do.
Happiness for Paul was in knowing he was a tool available to God
to minister to human need. It was both internal as a sense of peace
and contentment, and external because of the evidence that he was
being used. People were changed, churches were founded, and the
kingdom was expanding. The externals for Paul were fringe benefits,
however, and his basic happiness was the internal contentment of
being in Christ, and being used of Christ. Someone said, "Happiness
is life a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But
if you turn your attention to others things, it will come and softly sit
on your shoulder."
Happiness comes from within.

Our attitudes are the key.
No matter what circumstance,
Some good we can always see.
Try positive attitudes.
They're so easy to create.
In joy and contentment,
Will be your happy fate.
If you do good to others,
You have made a sure-fire start.
It is almost guaranteed,
To put a smile within your heart.
Catherine Marshall has known the deep sorrows of grief, and
the great unhappiness of life going wrong in so many ways, but she
has known also the joy of success in Christian service. She writes, "I
have observed that when any of us embark on the pursuit of
happiness for ourselves, it eludes us. Often I've asked myself, why?
It must be because happiness comes to us only as a dividend, as a gift
given us by God. When we become absorbed in something
demanding and worthwhile above and beyond ourselves, happiness
suddenly becomes ours as a by-product of the self-giving. That
should not be a startling truth, yet I'm surprised at how few people
understand and accept it. Have too many of us made a god of
happiness? Have we been brainwashed by the magazine and
television ads, featuring happiness?"
She sees most Americans interpreting their right to the pursuit of
happiness to mean the right to grab all the power, money, and
pleasure they can get. This leads to some very non-Christian methods
of being happy. Rights need to be dealt with right, or they become
wrongs. Both Jesus and Paul make it clear that it is more than a right
to be happy, it is a duty. It is part of our commitment to Christ to

overcome all that would make us unhappy. Jeremy Taylor said,
"God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy." Robert Louis
Stevenson said, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty
of being happy." If we listen to Jesus and Paul, and follow their
example we will find happiness and contentment by knowing God as
our heavenly Father, and by being committed to that which we know
is His will for our lives.
2. PROSPERITY IN POVERTY Based on Matt. 5:3
After his return from church one Sunday, a small boy said, "You
know what mommie? I'm going to be a preacher when I grow up."
"That's wonderful," said his mother. What made you decide you
want to be a preacher?" The boy said thoughtfully, "Well, I'll have
to go to church anyway on Sunday, and I think it would be more fun
to stand up and yell than to sit still and listen." Happiness is yelling
rather than listening from the perspective of a small boy. From the
perspective of a mother, however, happiness is a small boy who sits
still and listens. Happiness is obviously different things to different
people, and even different things to the same person under varying
circumstances.
Someone has said, to be happy with a man you must love him a
little and understand him a lot. To be happy with a woman you must
love her a lot, and not even try to understand her. Whatever you
think of that, there is no doubt that happiness means something
different to each of the sexes. It also varies according to the interest
of persons. The poet Gray said, it would be a paradise of happiness
for him if he could lie on a sofa and read new French romances
forever. Doremas Hayes, the great Mennonite scholar wrote in
response to that ideal of happiness: "To lie on a sofa and read French

novels forever would be no paradise for some of us. It would be a
purgatory by the end of one month, and it would be the blackest
depth of hell in less than a year."
We met a couple who bought a shirt for their overweight boy, and
it had these words printed on it-Happiness is suppertime. Not long
ago the sign at the Holiday Inn read, "Happiness is eating in the
Camelot Room." But we all know that the pleasure of eating does not
make life happy in any lasting sense. And there are many in poor
health who do not even enjoy the temporal blessing it can be.
Happiness, as we generally think of it, varies with the winds of
circumstance. We tie happiness so closely to emotion, and nothing
could be more variable than feelings. We can feel happy today, and
depressed tomorrow, depending on the news, the weather, or any
number of circumstances.
Jesus is not interested in this kind of subjective haphazard
happiness. He goes to the inner man, and speaks of a happiness, or
blessedness, which is a matter of character and being. It does not
depend on external circumstances. Happiness rises and falls, but
blessedness is a kind of happiness that remains steady in spite of the
variations in feelings. The Beatitudes of Jesus are attitudes of being.
Happiness in the highest sense depends on what you are and not what
happens to you. There are many others who have arrived at this
conclusion, but no one has been so paradoxical as Jesus. He tells us
that happiness is found in just the opposite direction that men are
going in search of it. It seems like nonsense to the world to find
happiness in poverty, mourning, meekness, and persecution.
Even Christians wonder what Jesus means by these apparently
contradictory statements. We must recognize that Jesus is
challenging the world's whole system of values. Many worldly people
speak highly of the Sermon On The Mount and the Beatitudes
because they are not aware of the radical nature of what Jesus is

saying. A true understanding of His concept of happiness will
transform the life of any person, and radically alter their character
and conduct. The Interpreter's Bible says, "The Beatitudes, far from
being passive or mild, are a gauntlet flung down before the world's
accepted standards. Thus they become clearer when set against their
opposites. The opposite of poor in spirit are the proud in spirit. The
opposite of those who mourn are the light headed, always bent on
pleasure. The opposite of the meek are the aggressors. The opposite
of the persecuted are those who always play it safe."
If we intend to be happy, from the perspective of Jesus, we will
come into direct conflict with the standards of the world. This can
and does lead to opposition, and persecution, and a great deal of
subjective unhappiness for the Christian. Any way you approach it
the Christian life, at its best, is a paradox. By means of what the
world calls unhappiness, we can be happy in the highest sense, but the
consequences may be subjective unhappiness in relation to the world.
This paradox becomes easier to grasp if we distinguish between
subjective and objective happiness. Almost everyone who writes
about happiness thinks only of the subjective side-that is how a person
feels and thinks. Jesus deals with objective happiness, that is how
God thinks, for He alone can see life from God's perspective, and
know the ultimate consequences of all we are and do. Objective
happiness is not based on how you feel, but how you measure up to
God's standard.
Notice how Jesus just lays it down as a fact and law of life when He
says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." He does not say, may they be
blessed, or they should be or will be, they just are. But what if they
don't feel like it, or are not aware of it? That is beside the point.
Jesus is not talking about how people feel. He is speaking of the
objective standard of happiness, and if you measure up, you are
happy whether you feel like it or not. In fact, it is impossible to feel
happy when are mourning, or when you are being persecuted, unless

you are neurotic or psychotic. Subjective happiness at all times
would be abnormal for anyone. The poet was right who wrote,
If you can smile when things go wrong, and say it doesn't matter.
If you can laugh off cares and woe, and trouble makes you fatter.
There's something wrong with you.
For one thing I've arrived at, there are no ands and buts,
A guy that's grinning all the time must be completely nuts.
To be subjectively happy all the time would be unchristlike, for
Jesus felt sorrow and grief. He wept, and He felt frustration over the
failure of His disciples. He was angry and upset by evil and
oppression. The world longs for perpetual subjective happiness.
They want to feel good all the time, regardless of the sin and evil in
the world. The Christian cannot and dare not even try, for that is to
go in the opposite direction of true happiness according to Jesus. The
truly happy Christian will be miserable at times in a world so full of
evil and folly. The Christian naturally wants his share of subjective
happiness, but this is secondary, and is to be a byproduct.
Our goal is to be objectively happy according to the standard of
Christ. This means a Christian might feel terrible, and yet be very
happy. He might say, I feel so ignorant and helpless, and it is so
discouraging to have so little capacity to serve God. He feels
subjectively unhappy, but Jesus says that this poverty of spirit is just
what God wants in a person, and so whether he knows it or not, he is a
blessed person headed for great reward in the kingdom of God. On
the other hand, the Christian who says, I am satisfied with what I
know, and feel happy about my service for the Lord, is really far less
happy by God's standard, even though he feels better than the other
Christian who is poor in spirit, and who mourns over his inability,
and who hungers for more of God's righteousness.
It is one thing to feel happy, and another thing to be happy. The

mature Christian is one who is able to see from the perspective of
Christ, and be able to feel subjective joy even when the circumstances
of objective happiness are not joyful. When he knows he is what God
wants him to be, he is happy even if he doesn't feel it. This calls for an
eternal perspective, and a faith in God's ultimate plan. Jesus went
this way before us, and our happiness depends on our following Him.
Heb. 12:2 put it, "Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy that set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."
Jesus was not subjectively happy on the cross, but He was the most
objectively happy person that ever lived, for He was fulfilling
everything God wanted Him to be, for He was the Lamb of God
taking away the sin of the world. This is our goal as we study these
beatitudes. Being what God wants you to be is the highest level of
happiness. The first of these paradoxes is, "Blessed are the poor in
spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Poor and poverty are
words which the world flees from like the plague, for they see them as
the enemy of happiness. Jesus says there is a form of poverty which is
the key to happiness, and all are in general agreement that this is the
basis on which all of the beatitudes are built. There are three
attitudes which, when combined, give us a good picture of the person
who is poor in spirit. First there is-
I. THE ATTITUDE OF DEFICIENCY.
No person can be truly happy who does not recognize he has a lack
in his life. We often think it would be wonderful to be totally satisfied
with no sense of deficiency, but Jesus says this would be a curse. The
Christians in Laodicea made this mistake. Their attitude was one of
proud self-sufficiency, and this is what Jesus says to them in Rev.
3:17, "You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I have need of
nothing; not knowing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and
naked." Failure to recognize their deficiency led them into pride.

They were blind to their poverty, and the result was a subjective
feeling of satisfaction, but objective unhappiness in the eyes of Christ.
However they felt, they were miserable according to Christ.
If they had recognized their deficiency, and been poor in spirit
they would have been dependent on Christ and His sufficiency, and,
therefore, prosperous and happy. They took the world's way of
prosperity and landed in spiritual poverty. The way of Christ is the
way of poverty, which is an honest recognition that you are deficient.
This leads to growth, prosperity, and happiness. The poor in spirit
are those who simply see the facts of life as they are. They tell it like
it is, and they know they are far from what they ought to be. Pascal
said, "There are only two kinds of men, the righteous who believe
themselves sinners; the rest, sinners who believe themselves
righteous." These are represented by the story Jesus told of the
Publican and the Pharisee in the temple.
The Pharisee was proud in spirit, and he was unconscious of any
deficiency. He thanked God he was not as other men. The Publican
saw the facts. He knew he was a sinner and needed help, and he cried
out for God to be merciful to him as a sinner. He, as an example of
the poor in spirit, received the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says he went
away justified. The Pharisee felt no sorrow for sin. He shed no tear
over his callousness to human need. He felt just great, but
objectively, measured by God's standard, he was a poverty stricken
wretch in the filthy rags of his own righteousness. The poor Publican
knew more of his deficiency and poverty of righteousness, so he
turned to God in mourning, and he hungered and thirsted for God's
righteousness to fill his emptiness. He went away with great wealth,
the pockets of his soul being filled with the jewel of justification, the
gold of godliness, and the silver of salvation. He found the prosperity
in poverty of which Jesus is speaking in this beatitude.
An attitude of deficiency is essential to the highest happiness, for

such an attitude keeps us open to the blessings of God. Happy are
those who know they don't have, for they are open to receive. If you
think you have already, you will not be open to receive. The honest
Christian knows that even though he may not steal, he still covets. He
knows that his spirit is far from the ideal, and is subject to envy,
jealousy, bitterness, pettiness, and love of ease and pleasure. It is
hard to be honest and admit our deficiencies, and the natural pride of
man resists it. The world holds up self-sufficiency as the key to
happiness, and the modern man wants no part of admitting to
deficiency. An egocentric writer was giving a group a running
account of his own great activities and achievements. Finally he
stopped and said, "Enough about myself. Let's hear from you. What
do you think of my latest book?"
Jesus says those who are so delighted and happy with themselves
are objectively miserable, and their final state will be tragic, but
those who see their deficiency, and are dissatisfied with themselves
are objectively happy and are heading for great heights in the
kingdom of God. The paradox is, only those conscious of the great
gulf between them and God are able to draw near to God. Only those
with an attitude of deficiency can be truly happy, not because a lack
of anything is good in itself, but because this attitude leads to the
second characteristic of the poor in spirit.
II. THE ATTITUDE OF DEPENDENCE.
A man who is truly aware of his emptiness is looking for help. The
proud man is able to make it alone, but the poor in spirit knows he is
not self-sufficient, but very dependent. The Greek word for poor
here carries in it the idea of begging, and not merely the idea of
lacking. Many translate it, "Blessed are the beggarly in spirit." The
concept of dependence is in the very word.
God alone is totally self-sufficient, and no man can ever be truly

happy until he recognizes he is dependent upon God. The sin which
led to all human unhappiness was the sin of striving to become
independent of God. Jesus counteracted the cause of all sin with the
opposite attitude of total and absolute submission, and dependence
upon God. Jesus was the greatest example of the poor in spirit.
Listen to His own testimony in John 5:19, "Truly, truly, I say to you,
the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the
Father doing." In John 14:10 He said, The words that I say to you I
do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me
does His works." Jesus was totally dependent upon the Father for
everything. He prayed for guidance before choosing the 12; He
prayed for power before healing, and for strength to meet His needs.
Jesus did not go about in pride, as if He had an all powerful
manhood. He knew He was powerless and helpless in himself. His
body and physical capacity was no greater than that of other men.
Without God, without prayer, and without the constant leading of the
Holy Spirit, Jesus could not have lived the perfect life anymore than
you or I. He succeeded, not because of His own divine power, for he
emptied Himself of that and became a man with all the limitations of
manhood, but He succeeded by total dependence on God the Father.
According to God's standard, Jesus was the happiest man who ever
was, or who will ever be, because he alone was the perfect example of
the poor in spirit.
Ralph Sockman said of the poor in spirit, "Whatever success they
achieve they attribute to sources beyond themselves." This was the
attitude of Jesus, and must be ours if we would be happy in the
highest sense. Jesus said, "Without me you can do nothing." Only as
we recognize this, and yield ourselves to Him in total dependence can
we say with Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens
me." The attitude of dependence on Christ is the door to the
kingdom, and the way to the heights of happiness within the kingdom.

Andrew Tait defined the poor in spirit as, "Those who are
conscious of their own frailties and imperfections, who renounce all
dependence on themselves and all pretension to merit, and, weary and
heavy laden, cast themselves at the feet of Christ for mercy." You
notice he includes both the attitude of deficiency and the attitude of
dependence. To feel your deficiency can lead to defeat if it does not
drive you to dependence upon God. The spies who went into the
Promise Land saw their deficiency, and they felt like grasshoppers
before giants, but they were not happy. Joshua was happy because he
took the second step, and had the attitude of dependence upon God,
and thus, was assured a victory. Poverty of self-sufficiency in one's
own spirit which leads to dependence upon the power of God's Spirit
is the key to prosperity and happiness."
The saint that wears heaven's brightest crown,
In deepest adoration bends;
The weight of glory bows him down,
The most when most his soul ascends;
Nearest the throne itself must be
The footstool of humility.
The third character of the poor in spirit is-
III. THE ATTITUDE OF DETACHMENT.
Luther said, "Poverty before God, that is, of the heart, is when one
does not place his trust and confidence in temporal things." If one is
to be truly dependent upon God, he must be detached from the things
of the world that non-Christians grasp at for happiness.
Jesus was ever calling men to detach themselves from the values of
the world to follow Him. James and John were called to leave their
boats and nets. Matthew was called to forsake his tax collecting.
Zachaeus offered to detach himself from his wealth and share it. Paul

suffered the loss of all things to serve Christ. All the values he had
established in society he gave up. He became detached from all to be
a slave for Christ. The rich young ruler could not detach himself
from his wealth, and so could not become a disciple.
The curse of riches, fame, and power, and all the world's ways to
happiness is not due to inherent evil, but because they compete with
total dependence upon God. Men get attached to their wealth,
position, and power, and, therefore, lose their attitude of dependence
upon God. The history of Israel reveals it over and over. When she
was poor and helpless, she depended completely on God, and was
happy and blessed. When she became prosperous, and became
attached to riches, she lost dependence upon God, and ended up
under God's wrath. Prosperity was her greatest curse, and led to her
poverty. It was not because wealth is evil, for it is not, but because it
destroys dependence. The attitude of detachment is essential to
maintaining the attitude of dependence.
If we become prosperous, the only way to avoid it being a
destructive thing is to avoid becoming attached to it. Literal poverty
comes in here, but we don't have time to deal with it here. The
evidence would lead to the conclusion that the literal poor stand a
better chance of finding God's highest happiness than the rich,
because poverty leads to dependence on God, and it is easier to feel
detached from what you do not possess. Potentially, the poor in this
world's goods can be the richest in the kingdom of heaven.
This is a sidelight, however. The poor in spirit are those who, be
they rich or poor in this world's goods, are detached from them, and
dependent upon God. Dependence is the central concept of the poor
in spirit. The attitude of deficiency on one side, and detachment on
the other, are for the sake of increasing and maintaining dependence.
Whatever leads to dependence upon God is good and intensifies our
happiness. Poverty of spirit is the starting line, and only as we start

here can we ever hope to experience the prosperity of Christlike
happiness.
3. HAPPINESS IN SORROW Based on Matt. 5:4
The soloist asked the visiting preacher what his subject was. She
wanted to follow up with an appropriate message in song. When he
hesitated she told him to never mind, she would listen and select
something appropriate. When he concluded his sermon she sang,
"Sometime, Somewhere, We'll Understand." Many a sermon is hard
to understand because it is over our heads, complicated, and far
removed from our experience of life. But one of the paradoxes of life
is that a sermon can also be hard to understand just because it is too
simple, and easy to grasp. This is the case with the beatitudes. Jesus
uses no big words; nor does He get complicated, or off on areas of life
removed from common experience. On the contrary, He is so simple
and clear in what He says that it becomes a problem.
Blessed are those who mourn is just too clear, and Luke makes it
even more clear when he writes, "Blessed are you who weep now for
you shall laugh." This is so clear and obvious that it is hard to
understand. The simplicity of it must be complicated by distinctions
and interpretations before it makes sense, for who ever heard of
happy sadness? Paradox always calls for careful interpretation. If
we take these words as an absolute statement without qualification we
end up as universalists. If all who mourn are to be comforted, then all
shall be comforted, for all men mourn. The aged poet reflects back
on life and writes,
I've seen your weary winter-sun
Twice forty times return,

And every time has added proofs
That man was made to mourn.
Certainly, Jesus did not mean to convey the idea that mere
mourning is the key to happiness. That would turn hell into heaven,
and give us salvation by sorrow. What of the immoral mourning of
Ahab because he could not have the vineyard of Naboth? What of
Jonah's mourning because of God's mercy on Ninevah? What of
Hamen's mourning over the advancement of Mordacai? What of the
mourning of Judas over his betrayal of Jesus, and the millions who
mourn because the consequences of sin are misery and death? The
road to damnation is wet with the tears of those who mourn. It is
clear that the simple statement of Jesus cannot be taken as a absolute
rule, for that would lead to the superficial conclusion that all evil men
will be comforted rather than condemned. Sin, suffering, and sorrow
would be only illusions, and we will all be happy when the light of
truth dissolves them. This is an unbiblical view of evil, and certainly
this is not what Jesus meant.
What then did Jesus mean by this statement? Bill Graham asks,
"How can one extract the perfume of gladness from the gall of
sorrow?" If not all sorrow leads to happiness, and not all mourning
leads to comfort, then we need to distinguish between good and evil
sorrow. The best way to accomplish this is to look at the mourning of
Christ. What made Him weep and shed tears? This will be the kind
of mourning that we must do to be blessed. We must study the
attitudes of Christ which made Him mourn to see the meaning of this
beatitude. The first attitude of Jesus that led Him to mourn was His-
I. ATTITUDE ON SIN.
Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, not just
because of what sin was doing to Him through those who rejected
Him, but because of what sin was doing to them. Weep not for me,

He said to those who felt sorry for Him, but weep for yourselves. The
consequences of sin are horrible, and those who do not find refuge in
Christ must suffer the full force of God's wrath on sin. This is why
Jesus wept over Jerusalem, and there can be no doubt that He shed
many tears of mourning as he prayed alone all night in secluded
places. This kind of mourning over sin is a key to happiness, because
it leads one to oppose sin and its consequences. This is to take a stand
with God against Satan, and assures one of eternal victory and
comfort.
This attitude is different from that of sorrow over sin because the
consequences spoil your pleasure. The worldly person mourns over
sin in this way. The one thief on the cross mourned because his sin led
him to the death penalty. He did not feel bad over his sin, but he felt
terrible over getting caught, and having to pay the penalty. The
world's beatitude is, "Blessed are they that never get caught."
Bertha Buxton said, "After all, the eleventh commandment (thou
shalt not be found out) is the only one that is vitally important to keep
in these days." This is no joke, but the sincere philosophy of masses
of people. To enjoy the pleasures of sin and escape the penalty is the
goal of life for many. This leads to being insensitive to sin, and a
careless and carefree attitude which is just the opposite of what Jesus
is saying.
When we cease to be sensitive to sin, and, therefore, cease to
mourn over what it is doing to God, others, and to ourselves, we cut
ourselves off from the hope of anything but the most superficial
happiness. Newman said, "Our best remedy against sin is to be
shocked at it." The tragedy is that sin is so common that we tend to
take it for granted. We adjust to it and consider our comfort and
ease in its presence a sign of strength. As a college student, John
McFarland spent a summer in the slums of Chicago. When he
returned to school, and to the country parish where he served, he told
of his shock at what he saw. After the service, a member of the

congregation, who had been on the board of a large corporation in
Chicago, came up to him and said, "Don't worry about it John-you'll
get to the place where that sort of thing won't bother you any more."
He was right, of course, but what he failed to realize is that when
we adjust to sin, and are no longer bothered and disturbed enough to
mourn, we drop down to zero on God's objective standard of
happiness. By escaping the sorrow that comes with being disturbed
by sin, we place ourselves in a neutral position in the battle of good
and evil. This is the lukewarm position that is distasteful to God, and
makes you of no value in His plan to push back the forces of darkness.
Happiness for the Christian is dependent upon being sorrowful over
sin, and what it does to people's lives. Those who do not mourn over
sin do not repent, and so they do not receive God's forgiveness, and so
cannot be ultimately happy.
He that lacks time to mourn lacks time to mend.
Eternity mourns that. 'Tis and ill cure
For life's worst ills to have no time to feel them.
Had the Prodigal Son never come to the place of mourning over
his folly, he never would have experienced the happiness of a father's
forgiveness, and a joyous welcome home. His mourning was the key
to his happiness, and so it is for millions who mourn over their sin,
and flee back to God in repentance.
God's love runneth faster than our feet,
to meet us stealing back to Him and peace,
and kisses dumb our shame; nay, and puts on
the best robe, bidding angels bring it forth.
The angels of heaven rejoiced over the repentant returning sinner.
God is happy as well, and so is the one who has mourned over his sin.
In no other kind of sorrow can so much happiness be found. Who is

happier than the one who has just lost his heavy burden at the cross.
It is important that we see this is to be continuous, and not just a
once for all mourning at the time of conversion. It is not, blessed are
those who have mourned, but, those who do mourn. Sensitivity to sin
must characterize the Christian at all times. This leads to immediate
sorrow when we sin, and to confession and cleansing. Paul wrote in II
Cor. 2:10, "For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to
salvation and brings no regrets, but worldly grief produces death."
There is a clear distinction between sorrow that leads to death, and
that which leads to the life of happiness. Happiness comes only from
the sorrow that is honest and realistic about sin.
Pascal said, "There is no comfort in anything except the truth."
And the truth is, says L. P. Jacks, "We are all stockholders in human
misery and degradation." The poor in spirit recognized this, and
those who mourn do something about it, for they repent and receive
God's solution to their sin through Christ. In a very literal sense, no
man will ever be truly happy who has not mourned because of his sin,
and that of others. Jesus wept over what sin did to others, and this
leads us to the consideration of the second kind of mourning Jesus
had in mind. It is that mourning which comes from-
II. ATTITUDE OF SYMPATHY.
Thomas Jefferson said, "Sensibility of mind is indeed the parent of
every virtue, but it is the parent of much misery too." Jesus could
have lived a much more peaceful and undisturbed life had He not
been so sensitive to people's needs. He had compassion on the
multitudes over and over again, and this meant a heart constantly
bearing the burdens of others. Dr. Jowell called Jesus the divine
seismograph. He wrote, "His heart was a delicate instrument
sensitively registering the faintest tremors of the world's pain and
sorrow." This is the kind of mourning that leads to happiness by

God's standard. The happiest people in the world are not those who
have sealed up their hearts, and walled themselves off from the
suffering of the world. On the surface it may seem like happiness to
be oblivious and indifferent to the needs of others, but in reality it is a
curse. It is that form of security in which you lose your life by saving
it. He who would save his life must lose it, said Jesus. He must open
his heart to the pain of involvement, and take up the cross and follow
Him. Follow Him to happiness on the road of sympathy.
Lord Shaftesbury, the English Reformer, saw a funeral as a boy
that changed the course of history. The body of the poor man had
been put in a hand made coffin, and was being pulled by his three
drunken friends on a hand drawn cart. They were singing foolish
songs, and in their carelessness they let the coffin fall and break open.
They were hilarious and disgusting, and the sadness of it hit him so
deeply that he vowed that he would do something to change that sad
scene. He was grieved by what he saw, and because he came to have
the power to do something about it, his mourning led to victory over
much evil. He went on to make a major difference in many social
issues of his day. Theophylact said, "It is one of the worst sights to
see a sinner go laughing to hell." Jesus mourned over such sinners,
and so have many others, and these mourners, because of their
sympathy with the sinner have done things to lead many of them to
heaven.
"Let my heart be broken with the things that break the heart of
God," was the prayer of the founder of World Vision. No Christian
can be happy in depth if he does not have the heart of Christ which
mourns over what sin does to people's lives. David in Psa. 119:136
wrote, "Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not
obeyed." When you get so hardened that the power of sin to destroy
lives no longer bothers you, you have shriveled up, rather than have
grown. It may hurt to care but it is only those who hurt who care
enough to help.

Isolation and the attempt to be happy by taking care of no. 1 and
leaving others to bear their own burdens is the devil's joy. James
Reid said, "The saddest thing in all God's world is not a soul that
sorrows; it is a heart so dull that it is incapable of feeling grief at all."
Abraham Lincoln said, "I am sorry for the man who can't feel the
whip when it is laid on the other man's back." It costs to be sensitive
and to have compassion. A great deal of subjective happiness goes
down the drain when you take up the cross of sympathy, and weep
with those who weep. It is a burden that lifts, however, and leads you
and others into the depths, and also the heights, of blessedness.
Samuel H. Miller, dean of Harvard said, "There is no way to share
in the agony of our world, its darkness and shame and bewilderment,
except by suffering what it suffers, caring in our hearts what it cares
in its heart, and sweating through the Gethsemane of its travail and
decision." This, of course, is what the incarnation of Christ is all
about. When Jesus, with strong crying and tears, wept in agony in
Gethsemane, He entered wholly and sympathetically into the
suffering of mankind, and by so doing opened the way to perfect
understanding between God and man, and thus, to perfect happiness.
If you are never sad, but only mad at sinners, you will not be a happy
Christian.
A joy there is, in sacrifice secluded;
A life subdued, from will and passion free;
Tis not the joy which over Eden brooded,
But that which triumphed in Gethsemane.
Blessed are those who mourn because of their attitude toward sin,
and their attitude of sympathy toward the sinner. The third attitude
which shows the reality of finding happiness in sorrow is very
comprehensive, and it takes in mourning over sickness, suffering,
separation, setbacks, and sidetracks in life. It is the-

III. ATTITUDE OF SUBMISSION.
This attitude alone can make it possible for the Christian to find
happiness in much of the mourning of life. We have a vague idea in
our minds that grief, tragedy, and suffering somehow brings us
nearer to God, but we don't believe it enough to long for those things.
On the contrary, we shun them, and pray for God's providence to
help us avoid them. We would rather draw nearer to God in health
and prosperity any day. The world also wants the happiness of a
suffering free life, but, of course, they cannot attain it, and Jesus knew
none of His followers could attain it either, and so He incorporated
the unavoidable sorrows of life into His system of happiness.
Suffering and sorrow from evil is real. Jesus endured it Himself, but
He also conquered it through submission. Not my will but thine be
done, was the conclusion Jesus came to as He mourned in the garden.
The only way much suffering can be redeemed for good is by letting it
drive you to God in total submission. Any mourning that leads to this
attitude will place you high on God's objective standard of happiness,
and in His providence will often lead also to great subjective
happiness.
For example, when Frank Laubach was a missionary in the
Philippines, he wanted desperately to be chosen president of the
Theological Seminary in Manila. One vote cost him the appointment.
As a result, he became bitterly resentful, and so much so that in his
brooding his work and his health began to fail. Here is destructive
mourning that will never lead to happiness, but only to misery. There
is only one way that this sorrow can be a means to happiness, and
fortunately for him, the world, and the kingdom of God, Frank took
it. In desperation he cast himself before God in total submission.
Without reservation, he committed his life to be used in any way God
saw fit. To demonstrate his death to self, he went to live among the
fierce head-hunting Moros, whom no missionary had been able to
reach.

For months he lived in great danger, but he labored diligently and
won their confidence, and began a Christian work among them.
Because of his submission and willingness to be nobody, God made
him somebody, and Frank Lauback went on to become one of the best
known men in all the world, as the world's greatest apostle to
illiterates. He has taught more people to read then any man in
history. A friend of his wrote of his experience. "God took the deep
yearning that had turned into mourning, and the mourning that had
triumphed in relinquishment, and out of this yearning and
relinquishment brought into birth a meek, God-controlled Frank
Lauback."
Any mourning that leads to submission to God, rather than
resistance, resentment, or rebellion, will lead to happiness. This
principle holds true for the sorrow that comes with the loss of a loved
one, or the shock of finding you have cancer, or any number of things
that lead to mourning. Dr. William F. Rogers in his book, Ye Shall
Be Comforted, gives us a bit of established information that will be of
value to all of us. "As human personalities we can stand a great deal
in the way of emotional shock, but the one thing that gets us into
trouble is deceit. When we honestly face and accept the fact, no
matter how distressing, the immediate shock can be accommodated
without dire consequences, but when we try to evade or suppress
unpleasant realities, then we are in for emotional disturbances. When
we express our sense of loss and sorrow, the reality of it is fully
established, it is accepted, and it is overcome."
From a scientific and psychological point of view he concludes,
"There is no comfort for those who do not mourn." The statement of
Jesus is not absolute in the sense that all mourning will be comforted,
but it is absolute in the sense that all mourning which leads to
submission to God shall be comforted. This means that the essence of
this beatitude is the same as the first one, and all of the rest, for it is a
matter of dependence upon God. An attitude toward sin that drives

you to Christ as your only hope. An attitude of sympathy that drives
you to serve others in the compassion of Christ, and finally, an
attitude of submission that drives you to your knees before God,
broken and yielded to be used as He wills. These are the attitudes
that will lead us to Christlike happiness in sorrow.
4. THE MIGHTY MEEK Based on Matt. 5:5
A dejected coach entered a telephone booth after losing out in the
high school basketball tournament. When he discovered he didn't
have a dime he called a passing student: "Hey! Lend me a dime so I
can call a friend." The student reached into his pocket and pulled out
two dimes. He handed them to the coach and said, "Here's two dimes
coach, call all your friends." It is hard to be a loser and still win
friends and influence people. Human nature resents defeat. Yet,
defeat is necessary to test a person's strength of character. Most
everyone can win gracefully, but it takes something extra to be
graceful in defeat. It is one of the paradoxes of life that some positive
values can only be developed under negative circumstances. The poet
gives an example.
Good sportsmanship we hail, we sing,
It's always pleasant when you spot it.
There's only one unhappy thing;
You have to lose to prove you've got it.
Richard Armour
What is true for sports, is true for the game of life in general.
Only those who know how to respond properly to defeat, anger,
insult, and persecution, can be truly happy and good sportsman in the

game of life. The natural tendency is to meet every challenge to the
ego with aggression. Any insult to the I on the throne must be met
with revengeful retaliation.
This attitude was at one time built right into the framework of
society. The code of honor required men to duel to the death of one
of them over an insult. The man who could avenge himself by
eliminating anyone who dared to offend him was a hero. Although
this tragic code has longed been outlawed, the attitude it represented
still reigns in the hearts of men.
So much so that the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the meek," are
themselves and offense to men. It is an insult to their dignity, and
contrary to what they feel are the facts of life. It is the aggressor who
gets what he is after. The meek are crushed and trampled under the
feet of the strong, and rather than inheriting the earth, they are
fortunate if they can hold on to what little they have. The only
happiness you can get out of this beatitude, say the critics, is the
happiness of a good laugh. Kim Hubbard considers it a joke and
writes, "It's going to be fun to watch and see how long the meek can
keep the earth after they inherit it."
Meekness has come to be so closely associated with weakness that
it loses all attraction. Even children want no part of it. A little boy
said to his mother, "Don't call me your little lamb, call me your little
tiger." Power is what appeals, and words that speak of strength.
Meekness may be a good word for the female of the species, but it is
as out of place in the masculine camp as lace. Aristotle was afraid of
meekness, even though he considered it a good thing. He wrote, "The
meek man is not apt to avenge himself, but rather to forgive." He
feared the very thing that Jesus holds up as the key to happiness,
which is the ability to forgive one who has insulted or injured you.
This beatitude brings us into conflict with the value systems of the
world, and the sinful pride of our own nature. Only if we are poor in
spirit, and recognize our own deficiency and dependence upon God,

and only if we mourned over our sin, and submit ourselves to God,
can we find the happiness that comes through meekness.
Jesus is always our greatest example of every virtue, and when we
see what meekness is in Him, we discover it is not weakness, but
power and strength. Jesus was the mighty meek, and His meekness of
being the Lamb of God was not incompatible with His mightiness of
being the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. His lowliness of being the Lily
of the Valley is not incompatible with His loftiness of being the Bright
and Morning Star. Meekness, when rightly understood, is not only
compatible with strength, it is the way to strength, and, as Jesus says,
it is the means whereby Christians will accomplish what all the power
of aggression has failed to do, and they will inherit the earth. We
want to look at three attitudes which characterize the meek.
I. THE ATTITUDE OF REASONABLENESS.
Meekness is a matter of the mind. Matthew Henry, the well known
Bible commentator writes, "The office of meekness is to keep reason
upon the throne in the soul as it ought to be; to preserve the
understanding clear and unclouded, the judgment untainted and
unbiased in the midst of the greatest provocation." The opposite of
being meek is to be a victim of passion. Alexandra the Great in a
drunken fit of anger threw a spear at one of his best friends and killed
him. When I was in high school doing jail visitation on Sunday, I met
and Indian who had gotten mad at his friend. He went and got a
sawed off shotgun and blew his friend in half. He was drunk, as was
his friend. These are illustrations of the power of the non-meek, and
those who are ruled by unreasonable passion.
As tragic as passion and brute force can be, the world still holds
that this is the way to be victorious in the dog eat dog life. The Saga
Of King Olaf by Longfellow gives us the world's philosophy.

Force rules the world still, Has ruled it, shall rule it;
Meekness is weakness, Strength is triumphant.
Over the whole earth, Still is it Thor's-Day.
Jesus says this is blind unreasonable deception, and that meekness is
the true power that will conquer. Those who allow emotion and
unreasonable force determine their response to life's blows, blow up
and destroy the happiness of others as well as their own. Jesus rejects
such nonsense, and says in Matt. 11:29, "Take my yoke upon you and
learn from me; for I am meek and lowly in heart." Paul was wise
enough to take this advice, and he writes, in
II. Cor. 10:1, "I Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and
gentleness of Christ."
Meekness is that attitude of God when He said, "Come now let us
reason together." All through the Bible the appeal is to be meek and
gentle, for this is the only reasonable way to face life. Jesus, in
meekness, faced scoffing, pushing, whipping, spitting, and every
indignity men could inflict upon Him. Even unto to crucifixion. He
went as a lamb to slaughter, and He opened not his mouth. This was
not weakness, but incomparable strength. Jesus had the power to
retaliate to the injustice of it all with a just wrath, but instead, He
prayed, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Jesus
not only kept cool when being provoked to a point that would make
most men boil, and overflow with rage, He responded in love.
Reasonableness leads to restraint, so that a man's energy and
temper are brought under the control of a purpose. Meekness,
therefore, leads to strength, for it keeps energy on the right track
where it fulfills goals. Xenophon used the very Greek word we have
here for meekness to describe horses broken to bridle. They were
made meek by being tamed, and this was not to make them weak, but
to make their strength useful. The wild horse burns up power in
useless displays of wildness. The meek horse is just as strong, but his

energy is being channeled into creative usefulness. The meek man is
not weak, but the man who uses his strength for accomplishing a
reasonable purpose.
The reasonable man, or the meek man, does not strike back and
fight, and go about defending his ego, because he is not foolish, and
has better things to do with his energy.
Paul says be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. This
is the reasonable response of the man of meekness. This takes far
greater power than letting your nature respond to its natural desire
for revenge when it is insulted or injured. Hugh Martin said,
"Weakness is yielding to our nature; meekness is mastery over it."
Those who master their nature, and control it by reason, are the
mighty meek. Prov. 16:32 confirms this."He who is slow to anger is
better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a
city."
The reasonable of meekness is demonstrated in many ways. It is a
great preserver of life. The meekness of Christ spared all of us, and
the meekness of the wise through the ages has prevented much
bloodshed. Sr. Walter Raleigh was once insulted by an ill-tempered
young man who challenged him to a duel. Raleigh refused to take him
seriously. The friends of both men were looking on, and the youth spat
upon his clothes and said, "Now then will you do it?" Sir Walter took
out his handkerchief and said, "Young man, if I could as easily wipe
your blood from my conscience as I can this insult from my person,
I would draw my sword at this instant..." That was not weakness, for
weakness would have run him through. That was the strength of
meekness; the strength of reason and restraint over the passions.
You and I will never save anyone's life by refraining from a duel by
the power of meekness, but the principle is just as relevant to us, for
studies indicate that meekness is an effective life preserver in our
automotive society. Dr. Tillmon and Dr. Hobbs of Canada, in an

analysis of highway accidents, have shown that the proud and
aggressive drivers are the killers. High accident rate people have one
thing in common, the lack of reasonable restraining meekness. They
consider no one else but themselves, and demand their rights at any
cost. They cannot take an insult, like being passed, without a fight.
They demand to get even, and allow their passions to take over.
If you study other areas of life, you will find that lack of meekness
is the cause of so much chaos. This is true in marriage also. Someone
wrote,
There's was a "beef stew" marriage,
And their case was somewhat crude.
The wife was always beefing,
And the husband, always stewed.
Such marriages are the result of egocentric people who are too proud
to share blame, admit error, and control their temper. They are blind
and weak because they are not meek. This is true for many areas of
life where the lack of meekness leads to trouble and unhappiness.
Blessed and happy are the meek for their attitude of reasonableness
and restraint will stand them in good stead for time and eternity.
Another aspect of meekness is-
II. THE ATTITUDE OF RECEPTIVITY.
Again, Jesus is the greatest example, for He was the most receptive
of any person. None who come to Jesus will be cast out. Christ
receives sinful men, for all are welcome to come and receive His
forgiveness, His love, and His guidance. Jesus was also receptive of
truth and guidance from His heavenly Father. Jesus never felt so
adequate and self-sufficient that He could stop praying. Even though
perfect, He hungered and thirsted for righteousness, for in His
manhood He needed constant grace to maintain that perfection.

Meekness precedes the hungering and thirsting, for the meek are
receptive, and only the receptive can be filled. The proud and the
arrogant are not open to new truth. They have arrived, and what does
not fit their philosophy is rejected. Neither the Bible, nor the Holy
Spirit are permitted to offer any new light. Such persons are not
happy, for they must live in a non-expanding self-created world. They
have reduced God to a finite being, and must live in fear less some new
discovery shake their faith. When a Christian gets to this point, he is
no longer open and receptive to more of the infinite truth and wisdom
of God. He has lost the virtue of meekness, and will, thereby, cut
himself off from many of the blessings of God.
E. Stanley Jones tells of the newspaper strike that went on for a
year and a half in India. A subordinate was rude to a superior officer.
He was dismissed and the other employees went out on strike until he
was reinstated. After a lengthy strike, a Christian government labor
official suggested that the dismissed man apologize and ask for
forgiveness, and that the officer forgive him, and reinstate him. This
was done, and the strike was over. Because of pride, it took a year
and a half. The meek are those who solve such problems before the
sun goes down. Meekness is power because it refuses to let man sinful
pride run the show, and make life complex. Meekness keeps life
simple because it does not need all kinds of defense mechanisms.
In the French New Testament, a very interesting word is used for
this beatitude. They say, "Blessed are the debonair." That is a word
the world uses, and it is an attractive word, so they do not need to
defend this virtue like we do the word meek. Debonair people
are fun loving, courteous, well-mannered, and all that a gentleman
should be. Blessed are the debonair, therefore, for they are not
burdened by prides response to insults. They bypass slights and
personal attacks with light-hearted indifference. They are receptive
even to learning from their critics. They are not given to ramroding
their own views down anyone's throat, but to listening, growing, and

learning to be all things to all men that they might win them to Christ.
Life is ever fresh to them, for as God's gentleman, they are always
expanding in their knowledge of God and man. This receptivity of the
meek leads them to present riches beyond compare, plus the
inheritance of the earth.
The non-meek who are non-receptive, and unteachable lose
everything. Hitler, like most great servants of evil, was perceptive
enough to see this weakness in men. He wrote in his book Mein
Kampf, "The receptive ability of the masses is very limited, their
understanding is small, their forgetfulness great--out of indolence and
stupidity they trot toward their doom." The devil himself could bear
witness to the cursedness of the non-meek, because they are hard,
closed, and self-centered.
The meek are soft and flexible, and meet the challenge of changing
times, because they are not so brittle that they break, but can be
molded by the Holy Spirit to fit the need. They are ever open and
receptive and gentle, all of which leads to great strength. But note,
they do not conquer the earth by their power. Jesus says they inherit
the earth. An inheritance is not earned, it is a gift. The meek would
never seize the earth, it must come as a gift. There are many
interpretations of this promise. Many point out that history supports
the truth we read in the Interpreter's Bible. "The mammoth
creatures that once terrorized the planet are gone. They blundered to
destruction, victims of their own too great strength, but the sheep still
graze on the hills." The aggressors destroy earth, they do not inherit
it. This is true in the animal kingdom, and among men.
This statement of Jesus is a direct quote from Psa. 37:11. It says,
the meek will possess the land, and is referring to the promised land.
There can be no doubt that Jesus is simply enlarging the concept of
the promised land for the new Israel. The promised land
for the meek in Christ is the whole world. We look for a victory over

all the earth, for this is the territory where Satan reigned. Our hope is
not just a matter of mansions in the sky, but of paradise on earth
where it first began. The goal of aggressors through the ages had been
to conquer and control the earth. It will never be realized by anyone
but the meek. The mighty meek shall reign with Christ. Let us,
therefore, be strong in the Lord, and develop meek, debonair,
attitudes of reasonableness, restraint, and receptivity.
5. HAPPINESS THROUGH HUNGER Based on Matt. 5:6
A woman leaving church said to the pastor, "Thank you for that
sermon, it was so helpful." The pastor said, "I hope it was not as
helpful as the last one." "Why what do you mean," she asked.
"Well," he said, "that last sermon lasted you three months." On the
other hand, there's a pastor who told a woman how glad he was to see
her so faithful in attendance each Sunday. "Yes," she said, "it is such
a rest after a hard week to come and sit down and not think about
anything."
These two cases are extremes, but nevertheless they are typical
attitudes which are happiness killers for many professing Christians.
A poor appetite means trouble in the body, and a lack of craving for
spiritual food is a sign of an unhealthy soul. Jesus says in order to be
happy we must hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is not enough
to nibble at it at your convenience. To hunger and thirst is a painful
experience which motivates a person very strongly. A craving for
food and water makes a person desperate and leads to revolutionary
action. Nothing matters to the person who is starving or dying of
thirst but the satisfying of that burning desire.
David entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence
which was unlawful, but he did it because he and his men were so

hungry. The Bible tells of two mothers in Samaria who, when the city
was besieged by Benhadad, made a pact to eat their own babies. This
has happened many times in history, and even here in America. The
Donner party on its way to California in the frontier days got
stranded in the mountain snows. Even though they represented the
best of American life, hunger drove them to eat the flesh of those that
died.
Thirst also drives men to desperate measures. People who heard
Jesus knew more about real thirst than we do. The hot sun in the
desert made water more precious to them than we can realize. Rider
Haggard in King Solomon's Mines tells of three men and their guide
who are running out of water. The Zulu guide says, "If we cannot find
water, we shall all be dead before the moon rises tomorrow." One of
the men reflecting back on the torture of thirst and the hallucination it
created said, "If the Cardinal had been there, with his bell, book, and
candle, I would have whipped in and drunk his water up, yea, even if I
knew that the whole concentrated curse of the Catholic Church should
fall on me for so doing..."
Men become desperate when they hunger and thirst, and all the
energy of their being is concentrated on one goal-to satisfy their need.
This sounds like misery, and it is, but it is in the spiritual realm
another example of the paradoxical misery that leads to happiness.
Without hunger men will not crave what they need. If the Prodigal
Son had not ended up eating husks being fed to pigs, he may never had
returned to his father. The misery and hunger motivated him to go
home, and to the spiritual banquet of forgiveness, as well as the
physical banquet of food.
Happiness through hunger is the next logical step in the beatitudes
of Christ. The first three have been downward. We must be emptied
of self; dependent upon God, and submissive in humility before we can
be filled with the righteousness of God. Those who are poor in spirit,

who mourn, and are meek are sufficiently detached from self, and now
ready for this new direction in which we are to climb.
Empty of self-righteousness and ready to be filled with the
righteousness of Christ. There are three attitudes that will
characterize us if we have arrived at this point, and truly hunger and
thirst after righteousness. First there will be:
I. THE ATTITUDE OF ADMIRATION.
Admiration is the appetite of the soul. Sir John Suckling said, "Tis
not the meat, but tis the appetite makes eating a delight." To be
happy in hungering and thirsting after righteousness we must have an
appetite for righteousness. If we do not admire the righteousness of
Christ, and men of righteousness in history are not our heroes, we will
have a hard time being a happy Christian. A happy Christian who
does not admire righteousness is as contradictory as a gourmet who is
repulsed by food, or a clown who does not like laughter.
If the Christian still finds sin very appealing, he will not hunger or
thirst after righteousness. The man who does not mourn over sin, and
long for the sanctified life that Jesus can give can never find the
happiness of this beatitude. He's hung up back on the negative
beatitudes, and is yet full of self-satisfaction. To such a person the
righteousness of Christ is as unappealing as a full course meal to one
with the flu.
Dr. William S. Sadler wrote, "I doubt if the highly self-satisfied and
conceited person is capable of genuinely admiring anything or
anybody. And we must not overlook the fact that when we enlarge our
capacity for admiration we at the same time increase our capacity for
joy and happiness." Admiration is an admission there is something
better than what you have, and it stimulates hunger. What you
admire you desire. This, of course, can lead to good or evil, but it is
necessary if we are to go anywhere. If you admire the movie stars,

you will hunger and thirst after fame. If you admire the wealthy you
will hunger and thirst for money. If you admire Christlikeness, you
will hunger after righteousness.
The whole Sermon On The Mount focuses on the inner man as the
realm of true happiness. Whatever you admire in the inner man is
what you will become. If you admire the proud and arrogant who get
their way by force you will not be poor in spirit nor meek. If you
admire the Casanova who deceives women you will let your lust be
the controlling factor in your inner life, but if you admire the man who
cherishes his wife and is faithful to her as long as they both live, then
you will be guided by that admiration to be just such a man yourself.
We must be aware that we are ever becoming what we admire.
Nobody wants to be a doctor unless they admire doctors; nobody
wants to be a pastor unless they admire pastors, and nobody wants to
be a better Christian unless they admire those who are better
Christians. Everybody is going in the direction of their admiration.
It all starts on the inside where you develop your appetite. The
history of a fisherman starts with a boy admiring his father, or some
other man catching fish, and he desires to do it too. He develops a
taste for it and just loves catching fish, and he aspires to become good
at it, and thus begins to commit time and money to acquire all that he
can to reach this goal. He buys tackle of all kinds, electronic gear for
the boat he has purchased, and he is filled with anticipation of landing
bigger and better fish. This is the normal pattern of life for the happy
fisherman. The same pattern is what Jesus is saying is essential in the
spiritual life.
Whatever wins your admiration wins your appetite, and becomes
the motivating factor in your life. Jesus does not want His followers to
miss out on all the blessings of admiring music, art, sports, and
numerous other values, but He demands a priority in our admiration.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these

things shall be added unto you." In other words, the higher and
nobler the object of our admiration, the higher will be our happiness.
The ultimate is an attitude of admiration for righteousness. The
second attitude that is essential is-
II. THE ATTITUDE OF ASPIRATION.
Aspiration is reaching out for what you admire. Richter said,
"There is a long and wearisome step between admiration and
imitation." Many people admire Jesus and the life He lived who do
not aspire to be like Him. It would be all right with them if they could
attain some measure of righteousness, but they do not hunger and
thirst after it. These will never know the blessedness of being filled.
Only those whose aspiration is like that of the Psalmist will be: "As
the heart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after
Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God...." And
elsewhere he cries, "O God, Thou art my God, early will I seek Thee,
my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and
thirsty land..." And again, "My soul longeth, yea, fainteth for the
courts of the Lord, my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living
God."
Here is a man whose appetite and thirst for God was unquenchable.
He wanted more and more, and more yet. This is the kind of
aspiration that will lead to fullness and happiness. The paradox is you
have to be always hungry to be filled. You must be ever dissatisfied
with what you are to find satisfaction. Perpetual discontent is the only
way to contentment. We must feel like Tennyson when he wrote-
An Oh for the man to arise in me,
That the man I am may cease to be.
Andre Kostelanetz, one time the most listened to conductor on earth
with such orchestras as The New York Philharmonic, The

Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Boston Symphony, tells of how
important inspiration is to him as a musician. He writes, "It is, I
think, a sense of discovery, a keen appetite for something new....
Someone has described the whole feeling as a divine discontent."
You can see how all that has gone before in these beatitudes are the
foundation for this one. You have to be poor in spirit and meek to go
on perpetually admitting you are still deficient and far from the goal
of righteousness. The only way to keep moving along the road to
perfection is to be ever conscious of our imperfection. We tend to feel
our dignity demands that we level off and be content with where we
have gotten. If we are fine respectable people that should be good
enough. We don't have to go to extremes. But Jesus says, you cannot
know God's best and experience the highest happiness unless you
persistently aspire to go all the way to the top. How far we get is not
as nearly as important as how far we desire to go.
Jesus does not say, blessed and happy are those who are righteous,
but rather, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after it. Many
Christians have died before they got far along, but if they aspired to
go all the way with Christ, they shall be filled. The thief on the cross
only lived a matter of hours, but he got to taste heaven that very day
because he hungered for it. Paul says he never arrived at his goal
because his goal was so high it could not be attained in this life. Right
up to his death he was pressing on toward the mark of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. He was hungering and thirsting to the end.
That is true happiness, and many Christians miss it because they are
too early satisfied. The only way to be like Jesus is to want to be like
Jesus.
We are not honest with ourselves, and poor enough in spirit to
admit we are in desperate need of more of God's righteousness. With
the evidence of spiritual malnutrition obvious, we in pride pretend we
need no food for our souls. Abraham Lincoln deserves the title honest

Abe because of his willingness to admit his deficiency and need for
God's guidance and righteousness. He said to a friend one day, "I
have been reading the beatitudes and can at least claim one of the
blessings therein unfolded. It is the blessing pronounced upon those
who hunger and thirst after righteousness." Those who have arrived
and are satisfied with their righteousness can never claim this
promise. If, however, you are discontent, unsatisfied, and aggravated
with your poor grasp of God's Word and ability to live it and
communicate it, rejoice, for this honesty with self leads to the attitude
of aspiration for greater things, and this is the key to happiness.
Dean Stanley says that on the Christian tombs in the Catacombs of
Rome the first sign of Christian life is pictured by a stag drinking
eagerly at the stream of life. This should be the perpetual attitude of
every believer. When the thirsty stag is no longer attracted to the
refreshing stream, then we can cease to hunger and thirst after
righteousness. This, of course, means a never ending aspiration.
As pants the wearied hart for cooling springs,
That sinks exhausted in the summer's chase,
So pants my soul for Thee, great King of Kings,
So thirsts to reach Thy sacred dwelling place.
As admiration must lead to aspiration, so aspiration must lead to the
third attitude which is-
III. THE ATTITUDE OF ANTICIPATION.
A mother said to her little boy, "Don't you think your older
brother should have the biggest piece of pie?" "No mama," he
responded, "He was eating pie three years before I was born." Here
was a little guy who felt behind in his pie consumption and he was
trying to catch up. That may be a foolish goal in the physical realm,
but in the spiritual realm it is not. The new Christian can anticipate

eating on the same level as the mature Christian. You can go from
milk to meat very rapidly if you only hunger to do so. Some stay on
milk all their lives, but others are rapidly into the meat of the Word.
A five year old Christian may be eating bigger and better meals than
a twenty year old Christian if they hunger to do so. The Christian who
anticipates catching up and eating spiritual meals fit for a king can
soon be at the king's table.
Hunger and thirst are a curse and not a blessing to the man who
has no hope of satisfying these desires. Hunger and thirst are only
blessings when you anticipate satisfaction. The man who is hungry
before a banquet is the happy man because he anticipates satisfying
that hunger. The Christian cannot be happy who admires
righteousness, and aspires to reach out for it, if he cannot do so with a
sense of assurance that he will be filled.
Jesus promises that if we hunger and thirst we shall be filled, and,
therefore, we must press on with expectancy anticipating each day
that God will supply daily bread for the soul. The problem with the
average Christian is that he does not really anticipate any exciting and
delicious morsels for his soul. He is so accustomed to the crumbs of
spiritual food that he does not expect anything more. This lack of
anticipation for a new spiritual meal every day lessens the appetite,
and the poorer the appetite, the weaker the aspiration and desire.
If you woke up this morning with no anticipation, and no
expectancy that this could be a day of delicious and delightful meals
for your soul, you are robbing yourself of one of the keys to the happy
life. Every day we must live with the attitude of anticipation. If we
are empty vessels longing to be filled with the water of life, we are
assured of being filled. T. E. Brown wrote,
At God's sweet fountain
Some one left me long ago;

Left my shallow soul expectant
Of the everlasting flow.
And it came, and poured upon me,
Rose and mounted to the brim;
And I knew that God was filling
One more soul to carry Him.
You should never be content with the great meals you have had in
the past. We have all had delightful experiences of eating, but we are
not content to leave it at that. We anticipate having other great meals
ahead. So it is to be with spiritual food. There is no point in the
previous beatitudes which leave us empty of self unless we follow
through and anticipate being filled with all the fullness of God.
Tennyson gives us a brief word portrait of the men who combined all
the beatitudes we have looked at so far.
We feel we are nothing-for all is Thou and in Thee;
We feel we are something-that also has come from Thee;
We know we are nothing-but Thou wilt help us to be.
This anticipation of God's helping us to be, combined with
admiration for Christ, whom we are to be like, and aspiration that
keeps us climbing to this goal, leads to the highest happiness of which
we are capable.
As we now by means of eating and drinking remember Him by
whose life and death we are saved, let us pray that beginning today we
will hunger and thirst after righteousness, and begin every day in the
attitude expressed centuries ago by Bernard of Clairvoux in this
poem:
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again.

We taste Thee, O Thou living bread,
And long to feast upon Thee still.
We drink of Thee, The Fountain Head,
And thirsts our souls for Thee to fill.
6. HAPPY ARE THE MERCIFUL Based on Matt. 5:7
The tallest Methodist church in the world stands in the loop of
Chicago. Skyscrapers of offices are around it, but stretching still
steeper into the sky is the slender steeple symbolic of man's aspiration
to reach God. Sometime ago bells were installed in this steeple in
order to peal out a Christian witness to those in the streets far below.
When the installation was complete, and the bells were rung, they
discovered that they could hardly be heard because they were so high.
The crowd thronged the canyon-like streets unimpressed because the
message of the bells went uselessly into the sky.
So much of what the church does goes uselessly into the sky because
it never reaches the man in the street. This is the very danger that
faces the Christian who hungers and thirsts after righteousness. He
can obey Scripture, and set his affections on things above, and aspire
to climb to perfection, but without the attitude of mercy which keeps
him relevantly and realistically related to his fellow man, he may
literally become so heavenly minded he is no earthly good. It is
possible to be so involved with your own righteousness that you
become narrow and harsh and holier than thou. Some of the old
Puritans got this way, and were such brutal perfectionists that in there
determination to be heavenly they made it hell on earth for those
around them. They lost all sense of tenderness, compassion, and
mercy for the sinner. This is the very thing Jesus does not want, and
He condemned the Pharisees for their cold and hard-hearted
righteousness.

In Matt. 23:23 Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Woe to you, Scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and dill and cumin and
have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy and
faith." Jesus is not interested in bells ringing so high they cannot be
heard, and He is not interested in a righteousness that cares about all
kinds of details, but which neglects to meet the needs of the common
people. Jesus wants to make it clear what kind of righteousness it is
we are to hunger after, and that is what these next few beatitudes are
all about. A righteousness that is not merciful is not the righteousness
of Christ. A right relationship with God is always demonstrated by a
proper attitude toward man. If mercy does not characterize our
relation to others, there is reason to doubt that we are right with God.
John says we cannot love God whom we do not see if we do not love
men whom we do see. Mercy is love in action, and without it there is
no possibility of being happy in any true and lasting sense.
A merciful attitude has always been God's requirement for His
people. One of the outstanding Old Testament texts is Micah 6:8:
"He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord
require of you but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly
with thy God." Jesus kept telling the Pharisees that God wants mercy
and not sacrifice. The New Testament letters are filled with
references to mercy. E. Griffith Jones wrote, "Mercy is the richest
fruit of the divine love. The Bible is full of it from the first page to the
last. It is ankle deep, as it were, in Genesis, knee deep in the prophets,
shoulder deep in the Psalms, and fathomless as midmost ocean in the
New Testament."
Paul says it was according to God's mercy that He saved us, and we
are urged in Heb. 4:16 to call upon God for more mercy constantly.
"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." The poet
wrote,

O King of mercy from thy throne on high,
Look down in love and hear our humble cry.
Thou art the bread of heaven, On Thee we feed.
Be near to help our souls in time of need.
Thou art the mourner's stay, the sinner's friend,
Sweet fount of joy and blessings without end.
Our salvation, blessings, victories, and all that contributes to our
happiness comes from the mercy of God. Therefore, whatever opens
the door to God's abundant mercy is the key to happiness, and Jesus
says here that being merciful is that key. In other words, if we are not
merciful in our relationship to others, we choke off our own supply
line of mercy from God. The Bible is filled with texts that make this
clear. Prov. 21:13, "He who closes his ear to the cry of the poor will
himself cry out and not be heard." This says in effect, cursed are the
unmerciful for they shall be treated unmercifully.
Later in the Sermon On The Mount Jesus repeats the same idea in
different words. In Matt. 7:2 He says, "For with the judgment you
pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the
measure you get." No where did He put it so forcefully as after the
Lord's Prayer in 6:14-15, "For if you forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive
men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses."
In James 2:13 we read, "For judgment is without mercy to one who
has shown no mercy." These texts make it clear we are not dealing
here with any minor matter that we can ignore if we like. Our whole
Christian experience of the mercy of God in life and for eternity
depends upon power being merciful to others. It is essential,
therefore, that we understand just what it means to be merciful.
There are three things which will characterize us if we are merciful, or
becoming merciful. First-
I. KEENNESS OF HEAD OR AWARENESS.

This means one is sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.
There is sharp awareness of, and keen interest in the problems of
others. One of the surgeons at Homestead Hospital confessed that he
never bothered to go down to waiting families after an operation to
tell them of the outcome. But one day his wife discovered he has
cancer of the breast, and he took her to a friend for surgery. Being a
surgeon he knew exactly what was taking place and how long it would
take. When his friend did not come and talk to him for an hour and a
half it seemed like eternity to him, and ever since that he goes down
immediately to inform loved ones. Those moments of misery led to
much happiness for many people because it made him keenly aware of
what it is like to wait in suspense. His mind was sharpened to the
needs of others, and he became more merciful.
We cannot be merciful if we are blind and dull to how people feel.
The doctor was not trying to be mean, he was just without an
awareness of what his neglect was doing. He was not very sharp. The
sharp man and the keen man perceived the needs of others, and how
their acts and words meet, or fail to meet, those needs. Keenness is
essential to being merciful.
In the day of Christ people were not very sensitive. Cruelty was
very common. Slaves were treated as mere tools, and could be killed
for the slightest mistake. Children who were not wanted were thrown
out like garbage. It was not done in hate and anger, but cool
deliberation. There was just no keen awareness of the preciousness
and infinite worth of the individual. We have a letter that was written
in the year 1 B.C. that illustrates this so clearly. Let me read it to you.
"Hilarion to his wife Alis, warmest greetings.... I want you
to know that we are still in Alexandria. Don't worry if, when
they all go home, I stay on in Alexandria. I beg and entreat
you, take care the little child; and, as soon as we get our pay,

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